Tanjiro Kamado
Tanjiro Kamado & Inosuke Hashibira vs. Spider Demon (Mother) is a battle fought by Demon Slayers Tanjiro Kamado & Inosuke Hashibira against the Mother of the Spider Clan. Prologue Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke are sent to the north-northeast on their next mission. Their mission is to slay the demons on Mt. Natagumo but Zenitsu is too scared to ascend the spooky mountain. They notice an injured demon slayer on the path and he is horrifically dragged into the forest by threads. Tanjiro and Inosuke go on ahead and quickly notice the forest is laced with spider webs. Tanjiro thanks Inosuke for accompanying him because a powerful odor wafting around the mountain made him hesitate. Tanjiro notices a surviving Demon Slayer and approaches him to reveal backup has arrived. The demon slayer, Murata, is discouraged to see that his reinforcements are Mizunoto Rank and says they need to send a Hashira. Insulted, Inosuke punches the coward and demands to know what happened. The cowardly demon slayer bleeds from his nose and Inosuke grabs him by his hair. Murata explains he was with a group of ten demon slayers that starting suddenly killing eachother after arriving on the mountain. Little do they know that there is a demon literally pulling their strings. Battle Tanjiro, Inosuke & Murata vs. Demon Slayer Dolls Murata notices a strange sound and compares it to the one he heard right before everyone started dying. Several injured Demon Slayers creak and stumble out of the darkness. They move like puppets and try to strike each of the demon slayers. Murata, Tanjiro, and Inosuke are able to dodge due to their slow movements. Tanjiro figures out they're being manipulated and tells Inosuke not to harm any of them. Irritated, Inosuke headbutts Tanjiro and demands he stop denying him at every turn. Murata struggles with his opponent while another puppet approaches behind him. Tanjiro and Inosuke stop arguing to save him by taking both of those puppets down barehanded. Tanjiro notices a sweet smell coming from the back of one of the downed hunters. He cuts the strings being used to manipulate them and tells the others. Inosuke acts quickly and cuts the threads of their remaining opponents. He claims he caught on before Tanjiro did. Tanjiro tries to locate the demon controlling the hunters but his sense of smell is interrupted by an acrid odor. Then he notices small spiders crawling up his arm. The demon tries to pull Tanjiro away using them, but he cuts the strings with his blade. This makes Tanjiro realize the demon can use spiders to reattach any threads they cut. Inosuke believes they should try and kill the spiders, but Tanjiro argues its a better idea to go after the demon using them. The wild boar tries stabbing the spiders one by one anyway. Tanjiro tells him its no good while trying to dodge slashes from the reanimated marionettes. He asks Inosuke if he has a tracking ability because his nose isn't working well. Tanjiro and Murata plan to hold off the enemy in the meantime. !]] Rui abruptly appears, walking on thin threads above the treetops. He demands the hunters stop disturbing his families peaceful life. Inosuke jumps off one of the doll's back and tries to slash the demon boy, but falls short. Rui leaves, angering Inosuke who questions why the kid showed up if he didn't want to fight. Tanjiro says that kid probably wasn't pulling the strings while trying to block an attack. Inosuke cuts the strings off the back of his enemy and stabs his swords into the ground. The annoyed boar tells Tanjiro he heard him the first time and confirms he has a technique he can use to locate the demon. The wild boar uses Beast Breathing - Seventh Form: Spatial Awareness to locate the Spider Demon Mother deep in the forest. The Spider Demon raises her marionettes back up and Inosuke wants to destroy them all at once. Tanjiro refuses to let him do so and is caught off guard by one of the puppet swordsmen. Murata protects him and tells them both to go on ahead. Inosuke doesn't believe the "bed-wetter" and Murata angrily yells at him to lay off. He knows it wasn't his finest moment earlier but Murata is confident he can hold off the puppets here by cutting their strings and watching out for the spiders. Murata reminds them that he's a demon slayer and these opponents can only make elementary movements. Tanjiro and Inosuke move closer to the demon and encounter thicker threads the farther they head in. They're confronted by another group of puppets, this time lead by a young woman named Ozaki, who's been forced to kill many of her allies. Tanjiro is shocked by the gruesome scene where this girl is crying and killing everyone around her. She begs the duo to summon else of a higher rank and fears everyone will die otherwise. Meanwhile, Rui puts pressure on his "Mother" to hurry and end this fight. Fearing for her life, Mother rushes to end the fighting and brutally forces Ozaki to fight far beyond her bodies capabilities. She proves much faster than the earlier demon slayers but its only because the demon is breaking her body to do so. Tanjiro is able to block her painful flailing but it pains him to watch this cruelty. Mother is irritated by Tanjiro's stubbornness and pulls up the dead or dying demon slayers that were laying about. One of them begs for the mercy of death because his body is so injured that his bones are piercing his organs. Inosuke tries to grant his wish but Tanjiro demands they find another way. Tanjiro blocks an attack from Ozaki while Inosuke avoids slashes while yelling at Tanjiro for interrupting him again. The puppets force Inosuke back and he admits to how speedy they are. Tanjiro doesn't want to counterattack using a move and decides to use Total Concentration Breathing to increase his strength. He tackles Ozaki and launches her over a tree branch, tangling up the wires controlling them. Jealous, Inosuke does the same to another opponent and claims he can do whatever his crimson head companion can. The Spider Demon Mother grows increasingly irritated with her puppet's failure and decides she has to bring out that doll. Tanjiro and Inosuke manage to tie up all the demon slayers without injuring them. Unable to manipulate them any longer, Mother deems her puppets useless and snaps all of their necks. Shocked, Tanjiro takes a moment to mourn his failure. Shortly after, he and Inosuke head out to finish the fight. Tanjiro & Inosuke vs. Demon Doll The wind changes direction and Tanjiro's sense of smell starts working again. He detects two scents and they run up on one of them closeby. Tanjiro tries to warn Inosuke, but the wild boar claims to have detected it first and leaps toward the target. He wants to hack the opponent's head clean off, but it turns out to be a giant, headless doll with blades for arms. Inosuke clashes blades with it and gets easily repelled. The demon doll strikes down with one of its golden arms and crushes the ground. Tanjiro and Inosuke avoid but the latter starts to panic because their opponent has no head to slice off. Tanjiro believes they should inflict a monk's robe cut on it by slashing it from the right side of its shoulder to its left hip. He wants to do it in unison but the wild boar rushes ahead to fight the demon. Inosuke is surprised by the demon's speed and receives several cuts from narrowly dodging its attacks. He believes that it's not so fast that he can't dodge it, but is caught off guard when several spiders attach webs to him. Immobilized, Inosuke admits he forgot about the spiders and believes he's a dead man. Tanjiro comes to his aid, saving Inosuke by blocking the demon's attack and then cutting the webs away. Tanjiro asks him politely to think and fight together but the wild boar replies that Tanjiro in the way. The crimson-haired demon slayer gets on all fours asks Inosuke to use him as a springboard. The wild boar launches himself off the box on Tanjiro's back and slices off both the demon's arms with a swift, upward stroke. Tanjiro helps Inosuke jump high into the air and then slashes off both the demon's legs with an upside-down Striking Tide! Tanjiro calls for the monk's robe cut and Inosuke realizes than rather than worry about going first, Tanjiro watches the overall flow of battle. Inspired, Inosuke delivers a spinning monk's robe cut that cleaves the demon doll clean in half, defeating it. Tanjiro takes a moment to celebrate their victory when suddenly the wild boar grabs him and tosses him high into the air. The Spider Demon panics because her most powerful doll has been slain. She blames Rui for making her panic and is late to realize Tanjiro floating above her. Hidden by the light of the moon, Tanjiro's senses return to full strength while he's in the air. He's able to find the demon and prepares to slice off her head with Water Surface Slash. The demon realizes she'll be killed, but welcomes her death as it would be a release from her family's abuse. Tanjiro realizes the demon isn't resisting and decides to switch forms and end her life using the Blessed Rain After the Drought. This showers her with warm rain and she feels no pain in her tranquil end. As she fades away, she thanks Tanjiro and warns him there is a Twelve Kizuki on the mountain. Aftermath Surprised by the Mother spider's revelation, Tanjiro recalls that each member of the Twelve Kizuki is closely related to Kibutsuji. If Tanjiro can collect their blood, Lady Tamayo can manufacture a medicine to restore Nezuko's humanity sooner. Tanjiro remembers to check up on Inosuke's wounds. While the wild boar boasts that he's fine, Tanjiro laments over all the casualties from this battle. He also thinks about why the Spider Demon he just defeated felt so much terror that she yearned for death. As he struggles to tend to Inosuke's wounds, Tanjiro wonders why a clan of demons is banding together. References Navigation Category:Tanjiro Kamado Battles Category:Inosuke Hashibira Battles